Sharapova's Russian rockets blast Venus out of her orbit

Michael Gleeson

AMID all the hoopla surrounding Lance and Oprah, a tennis match was played on Friday night between two women who have both been to the pinnacle of their sport. To our knowledge, neither of them ever took performance-enhancing drugs.

Venus Williams was once the best in the world, but that was a while ago. Maria Sharapova was also for a period the dominant figure in women's tennis and, remarkably, could be so again.

After Sharapova's peak came the drop when she got injured, and others overtook her. She struggled to rediscover her best form, and many doubted she ever would. This was partly (and guiltily) due to her supermodel looks, and you figured there were probably other more compelling things going on in her glamorous world than tennis.

What is easily forgotten is that not only is Maria Sharapova an exceptional tennis player but that she is six years younger than Venus Williams's younger sister Serena, who is the favourite to win this tournament and the dominant figure in this sport.

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Sharapova has been enjoying a mid-career renaissance that was given true credibility with last night's merciless downing of the veteran Venus. Sharapova won in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 in 79 minutes. When she lost the fifth game of the first set (to go 4-1 up) it was the first game she had dropped this tournament, and so broke a winning sequence of 28 straight games. The crowd cheered not for her but for Venus, a former world No.1 turned underdog.

At 32 and coming back from lengthy injury absences herself, Williams is trying to climb the mountain again. Her five Wimbledon titles and two US crowns belong to the last decade (2008 was her last grand slam win) but Sharapova was clearly aware of the danger she presented as an opponent as she celebrated each important point in the match.

Grand slam tournaments have a levelling effect on players not apparent in the myriad other tournaments of the season when wins and losses mean less. In grand slams everyone tries, so in grand slams players find their level. Last night Sharapova directed Venus to where she now sits.